Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren wrote a Supreme Court petition on behalf of a steel company, which was attempting to avoid paying into a fund that gave health benefits to retired coal miners, two Boston papers reported Tuesday.

The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald both reported on the 1995 case involving LTV Steel. The revelation comes as Warren, a Harvard Law professor, is fighting off attacks from Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown about her work representing Travelers Insurance in a case involving asbestos poisoning victims. Warren has made her commitment to “fighting for working class families” a centerpiece of her campaign, and Brown is using her representation of large corporations to undermine that message.

According to the facts laid out in the Globe and the Herald stories, the case involved LTV’s responsibilities under the 1992 Coal Act, which established a fund to pay for the health care of retired mine workers and their families. LTV Steel was coming out of bankruptcy when the law went into effect. An appellate court ruled that the company must pay $140 million for benefits to its former employees. Warren, a bankruptcy expert, was called in to represent the company on the question of whether LTV should be required to pay money into the fund upon coming out of bankruptcy. She argued that it should not be, and that any obligations to the fund should have been addressed by the bankruptcy court.

Warren’s campaign told those papers that Warren was paid around $10,000 to write a Supreme Court petition – and there was never any question regarding whether coal miners and their surviving spouses would receive their benefits under the Coal Act. The Supreme Court never took up the case.

Similar to its response in the Travelers case, Warren’s campaign said Warren was defending a legal principle that could help future victims. In this case, the principle was ensuring that similar claims in the future could be addressed through bankruptcy, not delayed until a company emerged from bankruptcy.

But mine workers and their advocates opposed Warren’s position, arguing that LTV was trying to avoid paying its fair share. Peter Buscemi, an attorney who represented the fund, told both the Globe and Herald that retirees feared that if LTV did not pay into the Coal Act fund, other companies would try to get out of their obligations.

Brown is expected to address the case Tuesday morning. Follow MassLive.com for further coverage.

Active Discussions

Breaking News newsletter

When the big stories break, we'll send you an alert.

Leave this field blank

optionalCheck here if you do not want to receive additional email offers and information.See our privacy policy

Thank you

You are now signed up for our Breaking News newsletter. You will receive occasional emails from us as stories break. To view and subscribe to any of our other newsletters, please click here.